Secret Crush Debut Race Overview and Insights

In Saturday’s 8th race at Gulfstream Park, Secret Crush is set to make his debut in a six-furlong maiden special weight event for 3-year-olds on the dirt. Trained by Todd Pletcher, who has a strong record with debuting male 3-year-olds, Secret Crush enters the race as an unknown quantity but with promising potential. Todd historically unveils many of his top sophomore colts during Gulfstream’s Championship Meet and boasts a 25% win rate over the past five years with male 3-year-olds debuting on the dirt in Hallandale Beach. He was two-for-five in January with such runners, including another close second and a third behind one of his winners. Irad Ortiz, Jr. was also aboard Pletcher’s impressive debut graduate Speak Easy, who earned a 100 Beyer Speed Figure when besting a highly regarded bunch on the Pegasus World Cup undercard on Jan. 27.

Secret Crush joined the Pletcher barn in November with a good foundation from Wavertree Stables. The son of Candy Ride has shown some ability in his workouts being paired with stakes horses and now proven unraced horses (at the time) like recent debut winner Refuel. Pletcher has expressed his happiness with the progression of Secret Crush’s training but acknowledges that the colt is still maturing as most unraced horses are at this point. Todd believes a good break and clean trip will be crucial in Saturday’s result. Secret Crush will get piloting duties from one of the best, Irad Ortiz Jr. who is known for his aggressive handling from the gate and ability to get horses in tactical positions early.

Facing a 12-horse field with eight other first-time starters, Secret Crush’s biggest threats include two of the experienced horses, #10 Hunt Ball (who is a half-brother to the 2023 Horse of the Year, Cody's Wish) and #13 Bonus Move, who drew on the also-eligible list. Bonus Move is likely the most dangerous despite the wide post position if he draws in, but has displayed good gate speed in his previous starts.

A reminder post time is 3:37 p.m. ET (1:37 ET Mountain).

About the entries:

#1 It’s My Life (8-1): Son of Into Mischief draws the rail on debut. Siblings are 2/8 on debut. Rail post is never ideal on debut but the work on January 19th from the gate indicates this one could be okay.

#2 Beeline (10-1): Trainer is having a strong meet so far but is not known to have them cranked the first time out. Full sibling started her career two for two, eventually going on to win the Zia Park Distaff S later in the year. Stallion strikes at 20% on debut. Has a healthy work tab leading up to his debut.

#3 Mr Skylight (20-1): Stablemate to Beeline. None of his four siblings won on debut and this one’s works aren’t jumping off the page. Most recently worked with MRH stablemate Tufnel and was outworked in the later stages. Expect him to need one and likely more distance.

#4 Great Lilo (30-1): One of the few that has experience. Decent debut back in October but failed to fire the last two starts. While experience is key, this one doesn’t seem to be this type of quality.

#5 J J Valentin (30-1): NJ-bred son of Sea Wizard gets his career started in South Florida. Stallion has been surprisingly solid despite limited starters. Still would be shocked if this one jumped up and won.

#6 Proprietary Trade (6-1): Chad Brown has picked it up of late after a very slow start to the meet. First foal off of a dam who was a MSW winner going two turns at Sam Houston in career start number five. No workout videos are available to go off of. Have to expect this one to have ability.

#7 Awesome Wind (12-1): Lone FL-bred in this field. The barn is certainly capable of winning on debut but interesting they opted to choose this race versus a restricted MSW to FL-bred in 3 weeks’ time given his work tab isn’t very in-depth.

#8 Secret Crush (9-5): Our colt. See above.

#9 Trucker (30-1): Yet to beat a horse in his two races to date. Can’t be intimidated by him.

#10 Hunt Ball (5-2): a Godolphin homebred returns to sprinting after a minor layoff. His debut sprinting this past summer at Saratoga was solid. Must be respected in this spot as he holds a major experience advantage despite the brief layoff. [This is a half-brother to Cody's Wish, but sired by Into Mischief instead of Curlin]

#11 Tommy Two Socks (30-1): $23,000 yearling purchase comes into his debut with a fairly spastic work pattern. Gate drill two back appears decent but would look in other directions.

#12 Navesink Pirate (20-1): Another NJ-bred by Sea Wizard and stablemate to #5 J J Valentin. This one seems the better of the two, which is purely speculation based off of the work pattern. Would have to work out a trip from post #12.

#13 Bonus Move (2-1) [Also Eligible]: The lone also eligible would be a huge player in this field IF he draws in and only needs one scratch to get. Has speed and race decent enough over the track on Dec. 30. Barn is 0/15 at the meet and oddly, 0/19 when his horses get Lasix for the first time. Typically this would be seen as an upgrade.